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Rankings / Routes / Los Angeles to Miami

2025 flights

Los Angeles to Miami

Between Los Angeles and Miami, 1.6 million passengers flew nonstop in 2025, on 11 thousand flights of about 2,342 miles and 4.8 hours in the air. The average passenger accounted for about 292 kg of CO2 from the fuel burned, from 233 kg on Spirit Airlines to 318 kg on JetBlue.

  • 292 kgCO2 per passenger, average
  • 2,342 milesabout 4.8 hours in the air
  • 1.6 millionpassengers in 2025
  • 86%of seats filled

CO2 per passenger, airline by airline

CO2 per passenger by airline, Los Angeles to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Los Angeles and Miami in 2025.0100200300Spirit Airlines233 kgDelta Air Lines273 kgAmerican Airlines287 kgJetBlue318 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, Los Angeles to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on each airline between Los Angeles and Miami in 2025.0100200300Spirit Airlines233 kgDelta Air Lines273 kgAmerican Airlines287 kgJetBlue318 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger, one way, 2025. Fuel burned only. Less is better.
Los Angeles to Miami by airline, 2025
AirlineShare of passengersFlights (thousands)Main aircraftSeats per flightSeats filledkg CO2 per passenger
American Airlines56%5.6Airbus A321neo, Boeing 737 MAX 819385%287
JetBlue27%3.2Airbus A321, Airbus A321neo15988%318
Delta Air Lines14%1.5Airbus A321neo, Boeing 737-900ER19183%273
Spirit Airlines2%0.2Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo19586%233

What explains the differences

It's number 93 of the 100 busiest city pairs by passengers, and number 3 for the lowest CO2 per mile flown (0.12 kg per passenger-mile, number 1 being the lowest). A typical route of 2,342 miles in this set comes out at about 316 kg, so this one is 7.6% below it.

The flights use more than one pair of airports: MIA to LAX (63%), FLL to LAX (37%), MIA to ONT (0%). The figures here cover all of them.

The airlines on this route differ by 37% per passenger. Spirit Airlines burned 3,991 gallons per flight and 167 passengers on each, and JetBlue 4,560 gallons and 140 passengers. Fuel burned per flight explains about 43% of the gap and the number of passengers on each flight the other 57%. Spirit Airlines flew 86% full here against 88% for JetBlue, flying mostly Airbus A320neo against Airbus A321.

For comparison, the EPA default factor for a flight of this length (0.163 kg per passenger-mile) would give 382 kg. The EPA figure is a national average for flights of that length. The measured figure for this route is 23% lower.

2019 compared with 2025

In 2019 the route carried 1.6 million passengers on 10 thousand flights. In 2025 it carried 1.6 million, up 5%, on 11 thousand flights, up 9%. The average flight had 179 seats then and 182 now, and 91% of them were filled against 86%.

CO2 per passenger was 325 kg in 2019 and 292 kg in 2025, down 10.0%. Fuel burned per flight was down 14.0% (5,446 gallons to 4,684) and passengers per flight were down 4.4% (163 to 156). The distance flown was about the same (2,342 miles then, 2,342 now).

American Airlines led in both years, with 63% of passengers in 2019 and 56% in 2025. JetBlue gained the most share, 21% to 27%. American Airlines lost the most, 63% to 56%. Delta Air Lines didn't have 1% of the passengers in 2019 and now carries 14%. Alaska Airlines no longer reaches 1% of passengers, having had 10% in 2019.

Airline by airline, American Airlines went from 329 kg to 287 kg per passenger (193 seats per flight to 193, main aircraft Airbus A321 then and Airbus A321neo now); JetBlue went from 335 kg to 318 kg per passenger (158 seats per flight to 159, main aircraft Airbus A321 in both years).

Los Angeles to Miami, 2019 and 2025
Measure20192025
Passengers (thousands)1,5781,650
Flights (thousands)9.710.6
Seats filled91%86%
Gallons of fuel per flight5,4464,684
kg CO2 per passenger325292
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Los Angeles to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Los Angeles to Miami for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.0100200300American Airlines 2019329 kgAmerican Airlines 2025287 kgJetBlue 2019335 kgJetBlue 2025318 kgSpirit Airlines 2019272 kgSpirit Airlines 2025233 kg
CO2 per passenger by airline, 2019 and 2025, Los Angeles to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per passenger on Los Angeles to Miami for each major airline in 2019 and in 2025.0100200300American Airlines 2019329 kgAmerican Airlines 2025287 kgJetBlue 2019335 kgJetBlue 2025318 kgSpirit Airlines 2019272 kgSpirit Airlines 2025233 kg
Kilograms of CO2 per passenger on the airlines that flew the route in both years. 2019 figures use that year's filings and estimated aircraft fuel rates, with type-average replacements for missing or outlying filings as described in the methodology. Less is better.

Los Angeles to Miami and back: time in the air

Flights from Miami to Los Angeles spent 307 minutes in the air on average in 2025, against 266 minutes from Los Angeles to Miami: 41 minutes longer, 15% more. That's the westbound direction, into the prevailing west-to-east winds, which at flight levels often blow at well over 50 miles an hour.

At this route's average burn of about 981 gallons per flight hour, those extra minutes cost about 664 gallons per flight, which is about 4.2 gallons or 41 kg of CO2 for each passenger on the slower direction. The route figure above averages both directions.

Time in the air by direction, 2025
DirectionAverage minutes in the airFlights
Miami to Los Angeles306.95,287
Los Angeles to Miami266.35,276

Fly or drive

Driving is about 2,740 miles by road, which we estimate as 1.17 times the straight-line distance. An average car emits about 814 kg of CO2 on the trip, at the EPA figure of 0.297 kg per vehicle-mile. Alone, that's 178% more than the 292 kg for a passenger on the flight.

With 3 people in the car, driving comes out lower per person than the flight (271 kg each, and 203 kg each for four). A larger SUV or pickup (0.394 kg per mile) would emit about 1,080 kg per vehicle.

CO2 per person by way of travel, Los Angeles to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Los Angeles and Miami.0200400600800Flight, average292 kgCar, driver alone814 kgCar, 2 people407 kgCar, 4 people203 kg
CO2 per person by way of travel, Los Angeles to MiamiBar chart of kilograms of CO2 per person flying, driving or taking the train between Los Angeles and Miami.0250500750Flight, average292 kgCar, driver alone814 kgCar, 2 people407 kgCar, 4 people203 kg
CO2 per person, Los Angeles to Miami. Driving figures divide one car's emissions between the people in it. See flying vs driving for other trip lengths.

Flights are listed under the airline that operates them, so regional flying appears under the regional. How the CO2 and drive figures are worked out is in the methodology.

Routes with shared cities or nearby CO2 per mile

Los Angeles to San Francisco75 kg CO2 per passenger over 337 milesNew York to Miami158 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,082 milesLos Angeles to Las Vegas53 kg CO2 per passenger over 227 milesNew York to Los Angeles406 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,465 milesOrlando to San Juan138 kg CO2 per passenger over 1,189 milesSan Francisco to Honolulu300 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,404 milesLos Angeles to Honolulu321 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,560 milesLos Angeles to Washington, DC290 kg CO2 per passenger over 2,306 miles

Airports on this route: Miami International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood.

Airport and airline references

Source: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), T-100 traffic and Schedule T-2 fuel filings; US EPA transport emission factors. See the methodology.

See all routes, or how the airlines compare overall on the airline pages.